Preventing Obesity
by JustinObesity has important implications for the physical and emotional health of children and adolescents and increases the risk of continuing obesity and development of diseases later in life. Preventive counseling from health care professionals is an essential component of treating obese children and adolescents. Although this is such an important part of treatment for obesity, health care professionals have consistently shown low rates of prevention counseling in his/her everyday primary care practices. There are several barriers in providing preventive counseling. These include lack of clinician self-efficacy and knowledge, limited time, and poor reimbursement for preventive services. Even if the health care provider does not encounter these barriers in his/her practice, the interventions have generally had disappointing results. Obesity is known for its confirmed links to increased mortality. There is also evidence that health care professionals do not frequently counsel his/her overweight patients.
For school-aged children, the majority of nurses often used changes in eating patterns and limitations of specific foods. Less often, nurses used low-fat diet and modest calorie restriction. Other eating interventions used when treating obese children and adolescents are listed. Approaches that were reported included: eating more fruits and vegetables, controlling food portions, increasing intake of water, eating more fiber, and learning to determine hunger and fullness levels. Decrease in sedentary behavior and increase in unstructured physical activity of free play are used often as well as often recommended increase in organized activity. The responses for the adolescent activity interventions were very similar to the responses for school-aged children.
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